PUTTING OUR PLEDGE TO REDUCE-REUSE-RECYCLE INTO PRACTICE

Here at RSBruce, we take our impact on the environment very seriously, which is why throughout our facility we work towards a pledge to ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’.

This is especially important to us when managing our waste materials, which are reused and recycled wherever possible and when they can’t be reused are disposed of responsibly to protect the environment.

In addition to this, we also look at other ways to increase our level of recycling across the business and recently we got the chance to practice what we preach.

During a re-organisation of our storage facility a few months ago we came across an old piece of machinery, a Holman Wilfley gravity separation table, which is used for dividing heavy and light materials.

The table has been around since the early days of RSBruce and back when it was installed was used for separating precious metals from contaminants, such as ceramics or plastics. Following a facility upgrade a few decades later however it was put into storage, where it has remained ever since.

When we came across the equipment, we had to decide what to do; we could sell it on for parts, scrap it, or simply leave it in storage for a while longer, but none of these would be of benefit to the environment or to our business. We knew the better option would be to put the machine back into working order. Although the separating table hadn’t been put to work for quite some time, it was still in good working order and just needed a little care and attention to get it back to its original condition.

With this in mind, we decided to invest some of our time and resources into refurbishing the equipment. Knowing we would need a few replacement parts and some expert advice during the refurb we contacted Holman Wilfley for support.

The company were more than happy to help and working closely with Holman Wilfley’s Business Development Manager, David Goldburn, our Director Richard Thevenon along with members of our engineering team, got to work on bringing the separation table back into full working order.

After replacing numerous nuts and bolts, some cleaning and oiling here and there, plus a couple of new parts and lots of elbow grease and test runs, the machine was up and running in no time and now it’s taking pride of place amongst our many other pieces of state-of-the-art equipment.

Refurbishing the table was a particularly nostalgic task for Richard as he used the machinery to complete his first ever project when he joined RSBruce back in the 90’s.

He comments: “When I was told the Holman Wilfley table was being taken out of retirement, it brought back a whole host of memories and made me think about how far we have come as a business. RSBruce has changed so much since I joined over thirty years ago and I’m exceptionally proud to have been a part of its evolution, but this project just goes to show that all it takes is a little time and effort to bring an old piece of equipment back to life!”

“The separation table is just as relevant and useful today as it always has been. Refurbishing the machinery has given us both a great opportunity to teach the younger generation the more traditional ways of working and helped us to honour our pledge to reduce our impact on the environment and reuse where we can.”

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